Thursday’s Headlines: Just Asking Edition

It’s a bit off topic for us, but can anyone tell us why Mayor Adams decided to defend the Pope for using a gay smear?

Like, what’s to be gained by defending something so needlessly offensive? What constituency (beyond unrepentant homophobe Ruben Diaz Sr., perhaps?) is Hizzoner courting?

I mean, I can sit here and defend Jorge Lopez’s glove-throwing tantrum yesterday at Citi Field — he was frustrated, and the Mets have been stinking up the National League for a month now — but I can’t defend a New York City mayor who offers aid and comfort to a Pontiff using anti-gay hate speech.

Then again, what else should we expect from the man who said that new immigrants should be lifeguards because they must be good swimmers to have gotten here?

The Daily News had the story.

Moving on, here’s the news:

• The rumors were true and the denial was pretty transparent: NYC Transit President Richard Davey is headed to Beantown. We always found him personable and straightforward, so congrats to him if that’s what he wants. (NYDN, The City)
• Demetrius Crichlow, who currently heads the subways division of New York City Transit, will take over as interim president. (amNY)
• What the car-loving New York Times calls “a life unencumbered by self-consciousness or regret” is just an asshole with a loud car who is terrorizing his neighbors.
• Speaking of America’s car dependency writ stupid, a driver with a suspended license called into his court hearing … from behind the wheel of his moving car. (TMZ)
• An anti-Semite chose a car as a weapon in Brooklyn. (NYDN, NY Post)
• And another pedestrian was killed by a reckless driver in The Bronx. (NY Post)
• Gothamist took a ride on a luxury bus to the Hamptons.
• City Limits had a great open streets op-ed by Friends of Streetsblog Jackson Chabot, Elana Ehrenberg and Rebecca Macklis with the simplest of takeaways: “New Yorkers should be able to dance in the streets, sidewalks, and curbs if they want to.”
• Here’s the first really good argument to ban TikTok (or at least alert Mayor Adams that someone is dunking all over him):

• Office? Schmoffice. Return to work rates are flagging. (Crain’s)
• Then again, who needs the office with these LIRR beach travel deals? (Crain’s)
• Thank God that Gwynn Hogan did the horseshoe crab mating story. That used to be my old beat at the Brooklyn Paper. (The City)
• And, finally, what the hell? A person being photographed in Soho got more than she wanted for her modeling portfolio — but also captured a typical day in New York City, where there are roughly 250 reported crashes per day: